General House Wiring

[tractormarkb]

Just checking before I make a mistake.. In a normal House the wiring should be plain copper -Ground, White-neutral and Black- Live. Am I correct?

 

[Anonymous-0]

You are correct..

 

[Dick2]

If there is a red wire instead of black, the red is then the live wire.

 

[Anonymous-0]

When I was running circuits in my cabin, an electrical contractor told me 'black to gold' and 'white to silver'. That is what I did, and it passed inspection with flying colors and has never given any problem.

 

[tractormarkb]

Thank you all for such speedy information!

 

[Dusty MI]

Ground can be green, neutral can be gray, live can be any other color. Most times black, red, blue, brown, orange, or yellow.

I got a little away. Your right, but green is often seen for ground in house wiring.

Dusty

 

[Oldmax]

Don't think that the netural isn't hot if you touch the netural with something turned on and you give a better ground IT WILL SHOCK YOU.

 

[buickanddeere]

White has 120V on it when coming back from a switch in the closed position. In this case white goes on brass.

 

[OldFarmTractor]

I like black to be an always hot wire and red or other color to be a switched wire. White Neutral and Green Ground.

 

[couv]

All of your replys seem correct as of when I post this.

I would add that "it" depends upon how the circuit is wired -- e.g. where the hot feed from the multibreaker box enters the circuit :

IF the hot feed goes to the switch first, black is typically the hot from the switch to the load (light for example).

IF the hot goes to the load first, it is common here to use a section of 3-wire romex (black-white-bare inside a plastic jacket) to go from the light to the switch. In this case you are breaking the hot side of the circuit only! As a signal to electricians, the installer wraps black electrical tape over the white insulation on both exposed ends of the romex. So, inside either the switch box, or the light box, one sees 2 black wires. BOTH CAN BE HOT if the switch is ON.

 

[couv]

Also - 2-Way, 3-way, and 4-Way switches are a totally different animals !!!!

A 2-way has 1 extra wire, any color that can be hot at times.
A 3-way has 2 extra; 4-way has 3 extra, etc. etc.

A 2-way switch to a light down a long hall lets you turn the light on or off from either end of the hall. Great idea, and I wired my house using them in halls, back door & living room doorway in the kitchen, or back door & carport wall (turn on the carport light from under the carport at night, turn it off inside the house).

The trick is to always use 2 of the SAME EXACT SWITCH by brand. If one of these babies go out, buy 2 and replace them BOTH ! This is the key -- because of the extra wire on the 2-way switch, each switch has an extra screw terminal. There are 9 combinations of how you would wire the jumper depending on the circuit design, so having the same switch on each end would mean the "blue" jumper wire goes to the 3rd terminal on each switch.

 

[smallbale]

don't know where you at but to do any new wiring you have to have permit and be inspected at rough in and at finished wiring.

 

[Sean Feeney]

If you mess up plumbing you get wet, Electrical work is not a hobby you get dead, be-careful.

 

[Pale Rider]

Maybe, maybe not. With 240 volt circuits using Romex both the black and white are live.

 

[showcrop]

I did all of my own wiring on two major addition projects with no problems. Recently I learned about something new----Don't forget the Greenies!

 

[RobMD]

Who the hell does that? If no one sees you doing it, forget permits.

 

[buickanddeere]

That is all the excuse your insurance company needs to avoid paying a claim.